10 May 2011

THE MUSIC AND PRESTON BLACK Led Zeppelin, Madison Square Garden, New York, NY, USA 1975.02.12

From THE DEVIL AND PRESTON BLACK:

"I loved to practice, and I couldn't wait for Monday afternoons to show my guitar teacher how much I'd practiced. The first time Jeff played "Crazy Train" for me would've been better than the day I lost my virginity and the day I smoked my first joint had both things not happened on the same day. Week after week he turned me on to new guitarists--Kirk Hammett, Randy Rhoads, Jimmy Page, Joe Satriani. "I practiced until my knuckles looked like marbles."
Because of Jeff I learned to love music more than I ever loved Tony Hawk or the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I pestered him for more songs, more riffs, and more guitarists for the next three years. When the time came for him to pack up and leave for college I figured I had to strike out on my own. I just needed to know where to start.
Jeff said, "Start with the blues."
I bought a slide, an old Coricidin bottle like Duane Allman used. But when I tried to get into Elmore James and Muddy Waters, I ended up with a bunch of CDs I never listened to more than once or twice. Being a white kid growing up in a patch house on the outskirts of Morgantown, West Virginia, the blues may as well have been N.W.A. or Public Enemy. I thought Jeff'd steered me wrong.
So I started hitting record stores like Charlie Watts hit Mick Jagger after that 5am wake-up call. I knew my personal thread through the music went deeper, and I was more than just an orphan who'd been passed around like a bottle of Boone's. Music made me all too keenly aware that I could be more than my guidance counselors ever expected me to be. I had my own roots and didn't have to buy into somebody else's past or culture to feel complete. I didn't know nothing about my mom or dad, but I knew I was conceived to Led Zeppelin III and I knew when I finally kicked it, I'd kick with a guitar in my hands.

When I started playing guitar YouTube didn't exist. Everything I knew about Zeppelin came from Rolling Stone and guitar magazines. In those articles Jimmy Page is forever choking that Les Paul like he was choking the devil himself. Robert Plant's hair is always spread out like a Raphaelaen halo. Jonesy and Bonzo are somewhere else.

My mind's image of Zeppelin is Plant and Page, shoulder to shoulder and forever frozen like Michelangelo's Creation of Adam in the Sistine Chapel. In my mind they never walked onto the stage and they never said goodnight. In my mind they are always halfway through Since I've Been Lovin' You or The Ocean. Always climaxing. Never stopping to take a breath.
Download Led Zeppelin That's Alright New York at Sugarmegs.com.

*Note: This title that Godfather released is flat out Amazing. I own 7 different labels of this show and without a second thought after Jimmy hit that first cord; This is…”The Example of Supreme.” All the current labels should grab a copy of this and frame it, hang it on their walls, and while gazing at it, realize this is Mastering at it’s Finest!
-bostonbro

Disc 1
01. Rock And Roll
02. Sick Again
03. Over The Hills And Far Away
04. In My Time Of Dying
05. The Song Remains The Same
06. The Rain Song
07. Kashmir

Review #1:
A great show! It may have been a blizzard outside but the Garden was rocking this night! "We came four blocks in the snow to get here ... you realise that? People were calling me on the telephone today and saying 'Is it gonna be on?' For a minute I was wondering about my anatomy, then I realised there was some discrepancy about the weather. Isn't it good though that it snows? Doesn't it change the vibe of the city? I think it's great!" The band is in excellent form and delivers a great show. Robert sounds good and strong, Jonesy and Bonzo are amazing as always, and Jimmy is incendiary tonight, especially at the end of Sick Again. He extends the solo in Over The Hills And Far Away to an incredible length and soars. No Quarter is dedicated to Jones that "...made Monthy Python's Flying Circus a flop in New York" tonight and his imppecably clean fingernails. Moby Dick is like a hurricane and Dazed And Confused just blows everybody out to the cosmic level! A bunch of heavy solid encores with an excellent Heartbreaker with some lyrics of Elvis Presley's That's Alright Mama thrown in closing this amazing eveing. This is definitely a triumph for the entire band and, not only a strong concert but also probably the best from the 1975 US Tour. "Ladies and gentlemen of New York ... you're too much ... and we ain't so bad ourselves!" and the show was over.
-Argenteum Astrum

Review #2:
When Empress Valley released the soundboard for this show it was a revelation of sorts. Not only was it previously uncirculated but it sounds as if it’s a professionaly mixed multi-track recording. The general consesus among collectors was that this recording was the best of the best and could not get any better. UNTIL NOW!!! Godfather has pulled off a miracle. This new release has taken what was already a three layer cake and added the richest icing possible. Godfather has improved the seemingly unimprovable. They did what was said couldn’t be done. They have taken the best sounding soundboard out there and turned it into the best sounding soundboard ever… Sure Flying Circus is great but this recording blows it away. Godfather used a professional recording studio to work their magic on this release. This release may definitely take the place of the official Live Led Zeppelin releases in my collection. This release has a beefier sound to it which overall makes this a slamming recording. There’s absolutely no hiss present and this is as clean as it gets. This release will help to set Godfather’s Legacy in stone.
One thing that has confused me over the years is that inside the first edition of Luis Rey’s “Led Zeppelin Live” book he lists both the audience and soundboard sources for this show. Mysteriously the next two editions of his book have only the audience source listed. Obviously Mr. Rey had access to the soundboard long before any of the rest of us did. We’re talking at least 10 years in between the first edition of his book and the release of Flying Circus. I don’t ever remember too much of a stink made over the listing of the Soundboard and no actual soundboard circulating. Someone in the know got to Mr. Rey and hushed him up. Conspiracy Theories at their finest. That right there proves to me that there’s still plenty of stuff circulating amonsgst the “Elite” collectors that the rest of us have no idea about.
This release is packaged in the typical Godfather Gatefold with numerous pictures of the band. Inside is another short summary by Mr. Paul De Luxe. He basically writes a short summary of the show. The soundboard source has been previously released as Flying Circus (Eelgrass & Empress Valley Supreme Disc) and Madison Square Graffiti (Red Devil). Audience source #1 has previously been released on LP as The Final Option (Rock Solid Records & The Swingin’ Pig Records), In Concert (Rock Solid Records), In Person (Rock Solid Records), Live At Madison Square Garden 1975 (no label issues & Zep Toepper), Live In Madison Square Garden Part 1&2 (Box Top Records), Madison Square Garden (The Swingin’ Pig Records) & Madison Square garden 1975 (The Swingin’ Pig Records) and on CD as The 10th US Tour (Whole Lotta Live), Can’t Take Your Evil Ways (The Diagrams Of Led Zeppelin), Can’t Take Your Evil Ways Un-Cut Version (The Diagrams Of Led Zeppelin), Four Blocks In The Snow (The Chronicles Of Led Zeppelin), Good To Be Back In New York City (Planet), Heartbreakers Back In Town Pts 1&2 (TNT Studios), The Jumpleg (Tarantura), Ladies And Gents (Tarantura2000), M.S.G. 1975 (Last Stand Disc, both issues), & Shakin’ All Over (Triangle Records). Audience Source #2 has previously been released on CD as Four Blocks In The Snow (The Chronicles Of Led Zeppelin) & That’s All Right NewYork (Electric Magic)”. The combined sources have been previously released as “Four Blocks In The Snow (Small Fish CD-R). DVD-A versions were released as Flying Circus (Empress Valley Supreme Disc) & Heartbreakers Back In Town (Genuine Masters).
I’ve always held Flying Circus in high regard due to the sound quality but this release has taken over the coveted spot of “Best Soundboard in Circulation!” Hands down it wins! Thanks must got to Godfather for taking something amazing and making it extraordinary. Eat Your Heart Out Empress Valley.
-Collectors Music Reviews